This forum is defined first by its purpose, then by specific rules as necessary.

Purpose:

The purpose of this forum space is to promote treatment-free beekeeping throughout the world.

This forum exists to promote treatment-free beekeeping, therefore the promotion of non-treatment-free philosophies is prohibited.

Promotion of a concept involves making it accessible to the greatest number of people, therefore language shall at all times be G rated so that the forum shall be accessible to all, from children to the elderly.

Promotion of a concept involves maintaining a good image of the concept, therefore, users shall be expected to be courteous and civil at all times, without regard for how others have treated them.

Rules: Rules are necessary to define concepts so that those unable to apprehend the spirit of the purpose may be bound by the letter of the rule.

In order to maintain the decorum and purpose of the forum and to keep subjects on topic, “treatment” is defined.

A treatment is a substance introduced into the hive by the beekeeper to kill, catch, or repel a disease or pest. A treatment may also be any action done by the beekeeper which “helps” the bees kill, catch, or repel a disease or pest when the bees ought to kill, catch, or repel the disease or pest by themselves. Such actions lead to the bees’ dependence upon the beekeeper for survival when they ought to survive on their own. This is the essence of treatment-free beekeeping

Manipulations or equipment that are done/introduced with the intent to "help" the bees survive when they ought to be surviving on their own are considered treatments. However, it may be necessary for freshman beekeepers to perform some of these manipulations as a stop-gap measure in order to have bees to multiply to overcome disease. It is imperative that these only be stop-gap measures. Every opportunity should be afforded for the bees to survive on their own and to become adapted to the local conditions.

Manipulations and equipment include the following:Frequent queen replacementSystematic splittingArtificial brood breaks (these can be very effective along with splitting for the freshman beekeeper, but the thrust should be splitting, not varroa control)Drone brood killing (Bee Informed Survey shows this to be ineffective)Screened Bottom Boards (Bee Informed Survey shows this to be ineffective)

Feeding is generally considered to be "treating against starvation," or at a minimum, an unnatural means to cause the bees to something they would not do normally. However, since many freshman beekeepers will be working with bees that are not yet adapted to their area, and may not have sufficient stores due to conditions outside their control, we do occasionally talk about feeding. It should be done only as an emergency measure and never as a standard practice

The equipment that makes up the hive is not a treatment, it is simply the apparatus beekeepers put the bees in. Equipment is considered to have no direct affect upon the bees or pests in the hive.

Equipment:Hive bodies, wooden, plastic, or otherwise Frames, wooden, plastic or otherwiseFoundation, wax, plastic, or otherwiseSmall cell foundation (this is simply an attempt by some beekeepers to return the bees to a more natural cell size, all foundation is by nature unnatural)Foundationless methods (foundationless methods are also technically unnatural as they happen in a man-made hive)Frequent replacement of comb/foundation (may be necessary in some chemically saturated areas to reduce human caused toxicity within the hive)

Treatments and discussion of treatments may be mentioned in the context of enumerating risks and downfalls.

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